1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a method for transporting containers with gripping action on a handling and transporting apparatus and container and transport apparatus having self-adaptive gripping elements.
2. Background Information
Background information is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily admit that subsequently mentioned information and publications are prior art.
The present application relates to a method for transporting containers with gripping action on a handling and transporting apparatus, and a handling and transporting apparatus which is designed to implement the method and has at least one gripping element for retaining or gripping a container, wherein the container has a belly or body region, at the head end a closable mouth opening, and a neck region, and wherein the apparatus has at least one transfer region from one transporting element to another transporting element.
Some gripping elements are known, for example, as mechanically functioning gripping clamps, wherein the gripping force can be produced mechanically but also by means of magnets. The handling and transporting apparatus has as transporting elements, for example, transporting systems which are designed, by way of example, as inlet star elements, main star elements, and outlet star elements. Arranged between the inlet star element and the main star element and between the main star element and the outlet element is the respective transfer region, wherein the containers are transferred from the inlet star element to the main star element and from the main star element to the outlet star element.
Some clamps for holding containers, for example bottles, in container transporting and handling machines, have at least two clamp arms, which are movable relative to one another for opening and closing, wherein each clamp arm comprises a gripping arm and at least one clamping arm comprises a counter-arm. The clamping arm which comprises a gripping arm and counter-arm is formed as one piece, wherein the gripping arm is stable in form and the counter-arm is designed as elastic in form. This is intended to provide a clamp for holding containers which allows for the necessary and/or desired centering of the containers, and wherein, at the same time, container diameter tolerances can be compensated for.
A gripper for containers, such as for bottles in container transport systems or container handling machines, may comprise at least two gripping arms capable of moving relative to one another, which are provided with magnetically-interacting, magnets or permanent magnets in the gripping direction. At the same time, the magnets or permanent magnets, which repel each other and attract each other, are formed in such a way, and arranged movable relative to one another by the working movement of the gripper, that the sum of the repelling and attracting forces taking effect in the gripping direction onto the gripping arms is essentially constant within a predetermined gripping range, which covers containers of different gripping sizes.
An apparatus for the gripping of containers and/or bottles with a carrier, may comprise a first gripping device arranged on the carrier, with a first gripping element movable in the direction of an outer circumference of the container, in order to grip the container at an outer circumference. The apparatus has a second gripping device arranged at the carrier, which can be introduced at least section by section into a mouth of the container, wherein the second gripping device comprises a second gripping element which can be moved in the direction of an inner circumference of the container, in order to grip the container from the inside. With such a device it is intended that, for example, bottles with bar closures can be gripped. Depending on which position the bar closure is arranged, either the first gripping element or the second gripping element grips.
A bottle gripper or, respectively, a gripping device for bottles, with two gripping arms, may be brought by a control cam into a retaining or releasing position, in that the control cam interacts with a contact surface formed at each gripping arm. The contact surface is in each case a constituent part of an elastic cushion, which is arranged at the respective gripping arm.
Another gripping apparatus for bottles may have two gripping arms which can be pivoted relative to one another by means of a drive device between a gripping position holding the bottles between them and a spread position releasing the bottle, wherein, by the drive device, a predetermined constant or substantially constant adjustment path is applied to a drive part taking effect on the gripping arms. The gripping arms are coupled to the drive part with the intermediate engagement of at least one elastically deformable buffer element, wherein the drive part, leaving an intermediate space, engages into an aperture of a gripping arm, and wherein the buffer element at least partially fills out the intermediate space.
A clamp gripper for a container transporting system, for example for a bottle transporting system with two gripping arms, may comprise an energy storage mechanism with at least one pair of mutually repelling magnets or permanent magnets.
From another sector of technology, for example, a “bionic handling assistant,” i.e. a robot arm, which combines the attainments of nature with technology (bionics) can be used. The robot arm comprises an artificially driven power transfer structure, which comprises on the end side a driven gripping finger for gripping objects. The power transfer structure can carry out movements similar to those of an elephant's trunk. The Fin Ray Effect®, which describes a two-layer structure which carries out deformations shaped by the application of force, for example by giving way at the engagement point and, by the effect of the force, causes the ends of the structure to bend towards one another. This causes a shape adaptation to occur, whereby point loads are avoided and/or minimized or reduced. The effect is known, for example, for chair backs. The gripping fingers referred to heretofore can be designed in such a way that they engage flexibly in non-positive and positive fit around the object to be gripped. A gripping element arranged in accordance with the Fin Ray Effect® is known, whereby the gripping element is intended to grip objects with care. Some objects may exploit the Fin Ray Effect®.
Some sorting apparatus may comprise a two-dimensional power transfer structure, and some drive devices may comprise a three-dimensional power transfer structure. Some gripping tools may comprise self-adaptive kinematics, while some handling apparatus similar to this may comprise gripping apparatus for three-dimensional objects. In the hitherto unpublished DE 10 2011 013 299.6 from the Applicants, a self-adaptive gripping element is described. Hereinafter it is intended that, to serve as a basic definition and technical description of a self-adaptive gripper or gripping finger, the embodiments from DE 203 18 845 U1 and DE 10 2005 010 380 A1 are to be taken, which are hereby made the disclosure of this present application, inasmuch as no supplements or departures are formulated hereinafter.
Containers referred to in the introduction can be used, for example, as bottles for liquids, for example for beverages. The containers, such as bottles, can comprise for example glass or plastic, such as PET. It is also conceivable, however, that the containers can comprise other materials and be filled with other liquids.
Some container handling apparatuses are, for example, rinsers, fillers, closers, labeling machines, inspection machines, and the like, wherein container handling apparatuses or transporting devices can be of rotating or linear design, wherein both types possibly comprise circulating retaining devices. For example, a labeling machine comprises a labeling star element, a main star element, on which various devices may be arranged, and an outlet star element, which is inherently known and has already been referred to heretofore.
At the handling and transport apparatuses for containers, the respective containers are held in the retaining devices, i.e. the gripping elements, along the transport direction. For this purpose the containers, i.e. the bottles, for example, are held in the mouth area by means of the retaining devices, wherein the containers, i.e. the bottles, for example, can stand upright on, for example, rotating plates, or can even be transported in floating fashion. The containers can of course also be held in the belly region.
The containers may therefore comprise regions with different diameters. For example, a bottle has a greater diameter in its belly region than in its mouth region and its neck region. The respective holding devices are therefore designed adapted in their dimensions in each case to the respective holding purpose, i.e. to the container region which is to be transported or held in each case. If it is intended that other containers with divergent dimensions are to be held, the handling or transporting apparatus concerned requires and/or desires re-fitting to adapted holding apparatus or an appropriate adjustment of the already existing holding apparatus. Both procedures, i.e. the re-fitting or the adjustment, are not only time-consuming and therefore personnel costs-intensive, but also lead to substantial loss of production. In order for the bottle not to be deformed or even destroyed during gripping or holding, efforts also have to be made to counteract such an event.
In this situation, control elements can be provided which prevent, reduce, or minimize a further movement together of the opposed gripping elements, if, for example, a gripping element were to exhibit, instead of the dimensions for the belly region, the dimensions of the neck region. A further problem lies in the fact that the containers must be or may be guided with extremely high precision at the transfer from one transporting element to the other, following transporting element, which requires and/or desires substantial effort and expenditure on control.